29 March: Niagara Falls

29 March 1848 was the only recorded occasion when Niagara Falls froze up completely and stopped flowing for about 30 hours. 10 things you might not know about Niagara Falls.

1. It's actually made up of three waterfalls - American Falls, Bridal Veil Falls and Horseshoe (or Canadian) Falls. Horseshoe Falls is the largest of the three.
2. The American Falls is so called because it's in the USA; Bridal Veil Falls and Horseshoe Falls are so named because of their appearance. The word Niagara comes from an Iroqois word meaning "point of land cut in two".
3. The whole thing was created by a glacier about 10,000 years ago, towards the end of the last ice age. When the ice melted the Water flowed from the Great Lakes into the Niagara river and carved a gorge. This erosion is an ongoing process - the falls are eroding at a rate of 30cm/1 foot per year which has been slowed down from 91cm/3 feet a year by the action of engineers. Even so, in about 50,000 years, the falls will have eroded away completely.
4. We don't know for sure who was the first European to see the falls, but the first person to paint them was Captain Thomas Davies in 1762.
5. On average, 2,400 cubic metres or 85,000 cubic feet of water flow over the falls every second. It varies according to the season with the peak flow occurring in late spring/early summer. Some of the water is diverted to make hydroelectric power, particularly in the winter and at night when there are less tourists.
6. The first person to go over the falls in a barrel was a teacher from Michigan called Annie Edison Taylor, who was 63 at the time. Previously, she'd sent the barrel over to test its strength with her pet cat, appropriately named Iagara, inside. The cat survived, and so did Annie, although the comment she made as she climbed out of the barrel, "No-one ought ever do that again," suggests she didn't enjoy it much. The authorities agreed with her and made such stunts illegal - survivors face a stiff fine. That hasn't stopped a dozen or more people from trying it since. The youngest barreller was Steve Trotter, aged 22, who, 10 years later, went back and did it again. The first duo to do it successfully were Peter DeBernardi and James Petkovich in 1989.
7. Not all plunges are intentional. A seven year old boy and his 17 year old sister fell into the rapids in 1960. The girl was pulled out by two tourists just 20 feet from the edge, but the boy went over. Miraculously, he survived and was pulled out of the pool at the bottom by the crew of the Maid of the Mist tourist boat. In 1918 the crew of a barge called the Niagara Scow narrowly escaped going over when its crew managed to ground the barge on the rocks near the edge. The wreck is still there.
8. Not everyone is so lucky. Matthew Webb, famous for being the first person to swim the English Channel, drowned when he tried to swim the rapids in 1883. Jesse Sharp, a canoeist from Tennessee, paddled over without wearing a helmet or a life jacket. His canoe was found, but he never was. Robert Overacker attempted the feat on a jet ski but died when his parachute failed to open, and Kirk Jones, having survived a suicide attempt in 2003 decided in 2017 to go over again, this time in an inflatable ball - but by then his luck had run out.
9. Other crazy people walk across on tightropes. The first was Jean Francois Blondin Gravelet in 1859 which sparked a craze over the next 37 years for crossing the gorge on a tightrope. Amazingly, there was only one fatal fall during this time, a man who fell near the spot where he'd anchored his rope, at night. The first woman to do it was Maria Spelterini, aged 23. Tightrope walkers attempted more and more difficult stunts - crossing carrying someone on their back, with ankles and wrists manacled, or blindfolded. People came from miles around to watch. In 1896, it was made illegal. The only person to have done it since then was Nik Wallenda in 2012. His walk was the longest unsupported tightrope walk in history at 1,800 feet/550m. Because he was crossing from America into Canada, he had to carry his passport with him and show it to Canadian immigration officers on arrival.
10. About 30 million people visit the falls every year. It is a popular destination for honeymooners.

My Books 

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The Ultraheroes series

Several new groups of superheroes, mostly British, living and working (mostly) in British cities like London and Birmingham. People discovering they have, and learning to live with, superpowers. Each book is complete in itself although there is some overlap of characters.

The Raiders series

A tale of two dimensions, and worm hole travel between the two. People displaced in both time and space, learning to get along and work together to find a way home while getting used to the superpowers wormhole travel gave them. A trilogy.

Golden Thread

A superhero tale with a difference. Five heroes from another dimension keep returning - whenever they return, they have a job to do and are a well-meshed team in order to do it. Until one time, something goes wrong...

Tabitha Drake series

A different kind of power - the ability to talk to dead people. Tabitha has it, and murder victims seek her out to make sure justice is done. Tabitha has this and a disastrous love life to cope with.

Short story collections

Some feature characters from the above novels, others don't. They're not all about superheroes. Some are creepy, romantic, funny.